Music
Stevie Wonder
born 1950 · singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer
Blind child prodigy raised in Detroit who signed with Motown at 11 and grew into one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century.
- Born
Saginaw, Michigan
age 76- Birth name
- Stevland Hardaway Judkins (later Morris)
- Also known as
- Little Stevie Wonder
- Detroit years
- 1954–1972
- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Born in Saginaw, Wonder moved to Detroit at four, when his mother relocated there with her children. He grew up on Milwaukee Avenue West near Woodward, attended Fitzgerald Elementary School and sang in the choir of Whitestone Baptist Church. In 1961 Ronnie White of the Miracles heard the 11-year-old sing his own song and took him to an audition at Hitsville U.S.A., where Berry Gordy signed him to the Tamla label as Little Stevie Wonder. At 13 his live single "Fingertips" topped the Billboard Hot 100, making him the youngest solo artist ever to reach No. 1. He also wrote for Motown labelmates, co-writing "The Tears of a Clown" for the Miracles. In 1971 he renegotiated his contract to win creative control, opening the classic run of Talking Book, Innervisions and Songs in the Key of Life. In 2016 Detroit renamed a stretch of his childhood street Stevie Wonder Avenue.
Highlights
- Signed to Motown's Tamla label at age 11 in 1961
- "Fingertips" hit No. 1 in 1963, making him the youngest solo chart-topper
- First Black musician to win the Grammy for Album of the Year
- Academy Award for "I Just Called to Say I Love You" (1984)
- Part of his Detroit childhood street became Stevie Wonder Avenue in 2016
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 4
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Recorded here · 1961–1972
Motown Museum
Where he auditioned in 1961 and recorded his early hits. Motown's first headquarters and Studio A on West Grand Boulevard; since 1985 the Motown Museum.
Memorial · 2016–
Stevie Wonder Avenue
The stretch of his childhood street that the City of Detroit renamed in his honor in December 2016.
Studied here · 1950s
Fitzgerald Elementary School
Status being checked
The Detroit elementary school he attended before transferring to the Michigan School for the Blind in Lansing.
Performed here · 1950s
Whitestone Baptist Church
Status being checked
The church where he sang in the choir as a boy and became a soloist.